Japan Player Ratings vs Ireland - Women's Rugby World Cup

Ireland started in a flash, only taking five minutes to get themselves on the scoreboard. An expansive Irish back play saw Stacey Flood receive the ball before releasing Amee Leigh Costigan. The left winger charged down the wing to fly in, breaking the desperate tackle of Misaki Matsumura in the process. It was her first World Cup try in eight years.

Dannah O'Brien nailed a superb conversion, a trend she was to repeat for the rest of the match as she did not miss a kick. Neve Jones got on the scoresheet just five minutes as Ireland bruised their way over from a driving maul. Beibhinn Parsons raced in to score Ireland's third as the backs connected well once again.

Japan would finally have their moment and temporarily pause the Irish onslaught. Japan were able to build up a sustained period of pressure. Intense carries from Sachiko Kato and Yuna Sato gave the Japanese important momentum before the ball was whipped wide to Haruka Hirotsu to bundle over.

The bonus point soon arrived for Ireland just before half time. Aoife Dalton recognised a wide gap in the Japanese defence and sprinted through. A simple two-on-one later and Fiona Tuite crossed under the posts to firmly send Ireland 28-7 up at half time.

Japan seemed to have put their first half struggles behind them as they struck first in the second half. They gathered the ball straight from kickoff and won a penalty. A five metre lineout later and Masami Kawamura dived down at the back of the maul to score.

Since this moment, Ireland looked comfortable. Evie Higgins got the pick of the bunch as she streaked down the length of the pitch after intercepting a Japanese pass. The inside centre splashed over with a rather muted swan dive.

Replacement Enya Breen scored the final try of the day after Ireland kept battering at the Japanese try line. With O'Brien controlling the game perfectly, she threw a pinpoint pass for Breen to run onto and dive over.

The Irish pressure remained right until the final minute despite Linda Djougang being sin binned for a ruck infringement. The match ended with a resounding roar from the Franklins Gardens crowd as Ireland completed their 42-14 rout of Japan.

Tries: Costigan (5'), Jones (10'), Parsons (23'), Tuite (36'), Higgins (52'), Breen (62')

Conversions: O'Brien (5', 10', 24', 37', 53', 62')

Penalties: 0

Yellow Cards: 1 (Djougang 68')

Red Cards: 0

Starting XV: 15. Stacey Flood 14. Beibhinn Parsons 12. Aoife Dalton 12. Evie Higgins 11. Aimee Leigh Costigan 10. Dannah O'Brien 9. Aoibheann Reilly; 1. Niamh O'Dowd 2. Neve Jones 3. Linda Djougang 4. Ruth Campbell 5. Sam Monaghan (c) 6. Fiona Tuite 7. Edel McMahon 8. Brittany Hogan

Replacements: 16. Cliodhna Moloney Macdonald 17. Ellena Perry 18. Sadhbh McGrath 19. Eimear Corri-Fallon 20. Grace Moore 21. Emily Lane 22. Enya Breen 23. Anna McGann

Tries: Hirotsu (28'), Kawamura (42')

Conversions: Otsuka (29', 43')

Penalties: 0

Yellow Cards: 0

Red Cards: 0

Starting XV: 15. Sora Nishimura 14. Misaki Matsumura 13. Mana Furuta 12. Haruka Hirotsu 11. Komachi Imakugi 10. Ayasa Otsuka 9. Moe Tsukui; 1. Sachiko Kato 2. Asuka Kuge 3. Wako Kitano 4. Yuna Sato 5. Otoka Yoshimura 6. Masami Kawamura 7. Iroha Nagata (c) 8. Seina Saito

Replacements: 16. Kotomi Taniguchi 17. Manami Mine 18. Nijiho Nagata 19. Ayano Sakurai 20. Kyoko Hosokawa 21. Megumi Abe 22. Minori Yamamoto 23. Sakurato Hatada

Had a fairly quiet game. Ireland did not challenge her in the backfield with their kicking game. However, there were a few loose passes, notably on the thirteenth minute as she threw the ball over the head of Matsumura into touch to bring their attacking phase to an end. Brought off for Yamamoto on the 61st minute.

She was afforded some room down the right wing but the brilliant Corrigan was able to shut her down most of the time. Matsumara was at fault for Ireland's first score as she was easily fended off by Corrigan. There was a brief moment of respite as she made a half break halfway through the first half.

Unlike her centre counterpart, Hirotsu, Furuta was not as effective. Some neat hands and defensive stability in the middle of the park. However, she was caught out by Ireland's pace in the outside channels far too often.

The barnstorming centre was easily Japan's brightest player throughout the match. She set the tone early with a brilliant covering tackle on the eighth minute and fittingly scored Japan's first try. Hirotsu put in some huge shots also. Excellent showing.

Oddly, Imakugi seemed like Japan's preferred kicker out of hand in the first few minutes. This was quickly changed though after a couple of kicks went astray. Didn't see much ball down the wing. Released a lovely offload to Kawamura though.

Sharp hands and accurate passing from the fly half. One of Japan's better players in a team that largely underperformed. She was accurate off the tee and able to put Japan into some good positions.

Generated some quick ball from the base of the ruck. However, she was outshadowed by her Irish opposite number, who did all the basics correctly and with great precision. An unfortunate trip at the back of the scrum on the 56th minute ended her side's promising spell in attack.

Dominated in the scrum and in the lineout. Day to forget for the front row.

Loose hands in open play but accurate at lineout time. Could not quite get a foothold into the match.

Brought off early on in the second half on the 50th minute. Very quiet game.

Went missing in large parts and could not secure the ball in the lineout. Expect work to be done to improve the set piece.

Nothing too worthy to note. Some carries. She lost the ball in the lineout and failed at some of the basics.

Put in a decent shift to try and stop the Irish scoreboard pressure. She was solid in the ruck and came up with the ball on a couple of occasions. She scored in the first few minutes of the second half to briefly spark a Japanese comeback but it was in vain.

Hit rucks, hit mauls and put in some tackles. Not a too shabby performance but some work to do.

Similar to all the Japanese forwards, they were unable to cope with the strength of the Irish pack. Improvement needed.

By the time the replacements had come on, the damage was already done. Japan only ventured out of their half on a couple of occasions as Ireland pinned them back. Yamamoto put in some handy kicks, however Ireland were always able to combat the impact of the bench with their better identified gameplan and accuracy.